Say What?The Explorer´s Club will kick your ass, run a bamboo stick through it, and bbq it over a spit while they laugh at your audacity for daring to say you have travelled widely. At least mine. The good news is, for a pricey sum, you could go with them on their tours which are one of a kind.
Apparently, Samantha Brown has a new show: Passport to Great Weekends. Catch it every Thursday, 10:00 PM (EST) on Travel Channel. They are doing a segment on London this Thursday (Jul 24), so you can see how awesome the Tower of London actually is!
I’m writing so much about London that I feel the need to split the post up for easier reading.
Tower of London
Tower of London is another must-go. It’s actually a huge fortress with lots of towers and full of gory bloody English history (I like!). Stories of deceit, murder and execution are abundant, but it’s best to hear it from one of the Beefeaters who acts as a tour guide. The Beefeaters are actually yeomen, whatever that means, and no one really knows how they got their name. One version is that they are traditionally paid in terms of food, in this case, beef. Anyway, one of the more famous occupants of this fortress was Henry VIII, he of let’s-execute-my-wives fame. I’ve only learnt about him from watching The Tudors on Showtime. Who says television can’t educate? Anyway, one of his wives whom he executed, Anne Boleyn (yea, she of that Natalie Portman movie, The Other Boleyn Girl), was buried in the church on the grounds and there’s a rumour that she haunts the ground carrying her severed head. Scary stuff.
Henry VIII’s armour. He was apparently fat. And erm…big.
Tower Bridge
The so-called London Bridge. That’s actually Tower Bridge. London Bridge is butt ugly, and not worth a photo.
British Museum
The Elgin Marbles
The British Museum. It’s free entry so that’s good stuff. You’ll get to see really cool artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the key in translating Egyptian hieroglyphs. Also, the Elgin Marbles which were from the Parthenon in Greece. There’s this whole argument about who should get the Elgin Marbles, but I think the British Museum’s argument is kinda lame.
Real mummies and corpses, preserved for all to see. I was wussed out to photograph the mummy in New Haven because there was no one around but since there were no shortage of visitors this time, I manned up to risk their undead wrath.
Open a checking account with the Bank of Hell and get your free cheque book! Good for eternity.
I had been to London when I was young, but even then, I remembered being freaked out by all the stories about Jack the Ripper. Stories about a crazy English man carving young English girls for kicks did not bode well for me. Though I was (and still am) neither English nor female, I was apprehensive of meeting an insane English man who might have a morbid fascination with Chinese boys. Suffice to say, London was not my favourite city at that time.
Not anymore. London is now my kind of city. Screw Jack the crazy, this is the city of Austin Powers and the Beatles, and I can see why. It is a city with such a rich history, and yet, its long past doesn’t hinder its progress, but adds to its appeal. The city has a vibrant soul, and there’s a little bit of something for everyone.
First thing on the itinery after I touched down at 8.30pm : Head down to Baywater for some long-awaited kickass roast duck. I’ve heard of the famous roast duck from Four Seasons for a long time, and some regard it as one of the best in the world. When we reached the restaurant (which is pretty easy to find once you exit the tube station), we were greeted by an efficient curt waitress by the name of Sandie. Apparently, she’s the door bitch of this establishment and she made us wait for an entire hour before we got a table. Not that it was her fault, the queue was just crazy long. Of course, I was a little miffed that a group of 6 jumped ahead of the queue because they knew her, but I guess you gotta hate the game, not the player. Besides Babbo, I never had to queue that long to get into a restaurant so every passing minute raise my expectations just that little bit higher. It was sheer torture to see people tucking into their duck.
Four Seasons Roast Duck
Egg Foo Yong
Our duck finally arrived (though we needed to remind them twice), and we attacked it with gusto. It was delicious, but it was a little cold. And though the duck meat was tender and the skin crispy, it was a little salty near the bones. Also, I was not sure if the duck was worth waiting one hour for. I could easily get that quality of roast duck at Johnson Duck opposite Beauty World in Singapore, assuming of course, quality hasn’t dropped since the last time I went there which was 1 year ago. Bottom line, it was good, but not one-hour-wait good. I liked the Egg Foo Yong better though, because they had these huge prawns on steroids instead of the Mini-Me prawns that I was used to. And they used real crab on the veggie dish we had so thumbs up for that. Anyway, FYI, they had stopped selling the duck takeaway. You can only get it if you dine in the restaurant. And I think the best time to go is either early (6 pm?) or really late (10 pm) to avoid the long ass queues if you didn’t make reservations.
Four Seasons Restaurant
83 Queensway, Bayswater, London W2 3RL
020-7229-4320noon to 11:15 pm (Mon-Sat), noon to 10:45 pm (Sundays)
And the final is:
Service: 0.8/2 thumbs
Food: 1.3/2 thumbs
Value: 1.4/ 2 thumbs
Overall: 1.2/2 thumbs
The next day: Westminster Abbey. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant on entering Westmister Abbey at first. All the churches in Germany I’ve been to were boring. It was the same thing over and over again: high ceilings, images/sculptures of the cross/Jesus, altar etc. Plus, I had to pay 9 pounds to get in and the currency converter in my head was ringing alarm bells. But the sight that greeted me when I entered took my breath away. The place was filled with all sorts of statues remembering famous figures in English history. It was like a walk through the pages of a history textbook. From what I gathered, famous important figures, such as the monarchs were buried here in the Abbey. According to Frommers, the most hallowed spot in the Abbey is where Edward the Confessor was buried and there is restricted access to that area. You can get in only on private visits. One thing cool about the Abbey is that they also recognized other non-royal figures in English history such as Charles Darwin, Shakespeare and the RAF during WW2. And since the Abbey was and is used for coronation purposes for a looonng time, you can really tell this is an important place. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed so that’s the only bad thing about it. It’s still a must-see though.
Big Ben
Gothic buildings around Westminster
Palace of Westminster
Lunch at Borough Market is DA BOMB! I don’t understand how Frommers can miss this place out. There are loads of interesting food stalls selling all sorts of mouth-watering dishes that I can spend hours wandering around. There’s ostrich meat, home-made pasta, and of course, fish and chips. The fish and chips were so good because they actually used real fish (with skin!) and not some cheap ass white meat that most people try to pass off as fish.
Fish&Chips
The chocolates are really good. We picked out a few flavours but our lousy palate can only recognize the chocolates with ginger in it.
Scallops from the Shellseekers. For 4.5 pounds, you get 3 scallops grilled and served with bean sprouts and bacon. Super.
I´m blogging while waiting for my experiments to finish. I´ve been doing the same thing over and over again which includes: breathing in huge amounts of formic acid fumes and getting my hands stained black from silver nitrate, and that I´m sure, is not a good thing. One thing good about working in Germany is that work ends at 4 and that leaves a lot of free time in the evening. The downside of this arrangement is a) Ludwigshafen/Mannheim is not the most exciting of cities and b) I´m trying to save up for Eurotrip round 2.
I think I like the German labour laws. 30 days of paid vacation and 37.5 hours working week. Work starts at an ungodly hour of 7.30 am but since I end at 4, I guess it equals out.
Next up is Wurzburg. 3 hours away from Ludwigshafen, so I reckon this would probably be the first and last time I see this charming city. Much nicer than Mannheim or Ludwigshafen, that’s for sure.
Images of the Fortress Marienberg. The main attraction of Wurzburg. It’s this huge complex on top of a hill, so it was a bit of a bitch to climb the hills to get to the fortress. I wished we joined some tour explaining the significance of the fortress, because it just felt like we were wondering aimlessly around the complex.
The second must-see of Wurzburg. The Wurzburg Residenz. It was partly destroyed in World War Two, but they did a great job in restoring the place. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Again, we wanted to go for the tour, but half the place was closed for restoration works, so we didn’t want to pay to see only half the place.
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I met this Singaporean couple outside the Residenz, which is always a patriotic thrill when I go travelling. Apparently, they’ve been travelling on a motorbike from Singapore all the way to Germany since Jan 1, making their way across the Asian and now the European continent. They heading down to the rest of Europe, then Argentina, then Russia then home. I’m way way impressed with them. It’s this spirit of adventure, the dare to chase your dreams, and the willingness to delay one’s immediate gratification for something else better that I’m trying to emulate. Check out his blog at Singapore Dream.
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It’s Euro final tonight! There were no riots during the Germany-Turkey match last Wednesday but there were loads of happy Germans (and loads of sad Turkish supporters). Please, please, let Germany win so maybe BASF will give us a day off in patriotic happiness.
German and Turkish supporters
Happy Germans. It was an extremely exciting match, with Germany scoring the winning goal at the last minute. I love this kind of matches. It goes to show it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Ever since I’ve been to Germany, I’ve been trying to be thrifty for the second half of my Euro trip. Everytime I smell a big piece of steak grilling during those summer festivals, I go drooling inside and I think about the great restaurants in New York. I miss New York already. And of course Singapore and her great food culture. Tian Tian chicken rice, Beach Road Char Kway Teow, Katong Laksa…
But to regress, this is about 2 great restarants in New York I had the fortune of visiting before I left for Germany. First up is the world famous Jean-Georges at Trump Hotel. Jean-Georges cost an insane amount for dinner, so we settled for lunch which was a very affordable US$30 for 2 dishes. Every extra dish cost $12, I believe, and that will fill one up nicely. I think it’s a bargain to eat at a 3 Michelin star restaurant for $50.
Since it was our first time at such a high end place, we were a little uncertain about photographing our food and we decided to play it safe. According to Chubby Hubby, it is perfectly ok to photograph your food as long as you ask the waiter and don’t act all fobby and disturb the other patrons. So expect more photos from my food adventures in the future :). We had a plethora of dishes and I especially love the squab which was cooked so tenderly and perfectly that you could feel the meat just melt in your mouth. The sea scallops with a caper emulsion was also extremely tasty and I love how the capers went with the natural sweetness of the scallops. However, the show-stealer was desserts. I love love love the home-made mushmallows and the granny smith apple ice cream. Oh and not to forget the home-made chocalates. That said, here’s the final on Jean-Georges:
Food: 1.8/2 thumbs
Service: 2 thumbs/2 thumbs
Value: 1.8 thumbs/2 thumbs
Overall: 1.8 thumbs/2 thumbs
Frankly, the reason why I love Jean-Georges was the desserts. The salty dishes were great and you could tell that they deserve their 3 stars, but they did not exceed my expectations as I hope they would. Maybe it’s because I had so high expectations, what with all the raving from friends, news reports and the Zagat guide. But I think for me, desserts exceeded my expectations in every way and I’m not a huge dessert fan. Oh, and interesting fact: Jean-George Vongerichten is credited for bringing the molten chocolate cake to the States in the late 80s, now a must-have on most menus.
Next up is Union Square Cafe.
What can I say about Union Square Cafe? Just that it was so so so good. From start to end, I loved every dish. I think my favourite has to be the mussels in that butter cream sauce (I’m not sure if it’s butter. I always had a problem recognizing flavours). The sauce was so good that I couldn’t help but mop it up with bread which was probably unbecoming but screw it. There was none of that fishy mussel smell most steamed mussel dishes have so props for that.
The seared tuna was also great. Union Square Cafe did my tuna really well and I love it. I usually end up disappointed with seared tunas in most restaurants but this was an exception. So the final on Union Square Cafe is:
Food: 1.8/2 thumbs
Service: 1.8/2 thumbs
Value: 1.9 thumbs/2 thumbs
Final: 1.8 thumbs/2 thumbs
If it was a toss-up between Jean-Georges and Union Square Cafe, I would have to say I would go back Union Square Cafe again. Firstly, Jean-Georges was value for money only during lunch. I think dinner would be a different experience altogether. Secondly, I like the nice and casual atmosphere Union Square Cafe has. And Union Square Cafe has really some damn good food that will please anyone.
And in the newest chapter of my German adventures, it’s onto Speyer, a little town 20 minutes away from Ludwigshafen. I have to admit, I was not too keen about Speyer, until I read the Wiki entry on it. Apparently, it is rich in history and was extremely significant in German history.
The Speyer Cathedral. It’s HUGE. And I like that it’s not as ostentatious as some other cathedrals I’ve seen. It’s big, but the art in the cathedral is not so in-your-face. It reminds me of the ”fire engine station” church in Cordoba, but maybe that’s how all old Roman cathedrals look like. The cathedral is also the resting place of 8 German kings and queens who died in the 10th and 11th century. I visited the crypt and it gave me the chills. It was cold, probably due to the stone architecture and with the choir practising their hymns above the crpyt, it feels exactly like a scene from Diablo 1. I was half-expecting skeletons to rise up from the sarcophagi and attack us. I wanted to take a photo of the crypt, but on second thoughts, it was probably disrespectful and the last thing I wanted to do was to incur the wrath of 8 German ghosts.
So that’s it on Speyer. It’s really small, and everything can be seen in half a day. Like Heidelberg, it’s the kind of place to just go and people watch from a cafe with a nice cold beer. Or ice cream. The Germans love their ice cream.
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Joshuas, trees are just trees. Since HY probably doesn’t read this blog, I shall say on his behalf, “The poet speak! Come joshua, let us hear a haiku on trees!”
So this past weekend, the DAAD (the organization that brought me here to Germany) orgnanized a compulsory meeting for all RISE-Pro scholars (which is what I am I guess) at Bonn, the former capital of Germany. It was all-inclusive, but we had to go for company tours so that was not very exciting. Still, with a free holiday, I can hardly complain much.
The Palace Augustusburg. I thought it was a little ridiculous how we were herded from one room to another as we toured the palace. We were literally chased out of a room the moment we stepped in, but I guess this was because we were pressed for time. Anyway, I didn’t think much of the palace. It was used to entertain foreign politicians when Bonn was the capital so that’s the only interesting fact I could gather from my 10 minute tour of the palace.
The palace grounds. Not very exciting too. Trees are trees.
Kolsch-Cola, which is a beer mixed with cola I think. It took me 3 tries just to get my drink at the beer garden. The first time I ordered, I got a small glass, which I was fine with, but someone else at my table thought I didn’t want such a small drink and insisted I exchange my Kolsch-Cola with her large Coke. So I stupidly did, and tried ordering a large Kolsch-Cola this time. The waitress came back with a large Coke instead, so I have 2 large Cokes now. I finally got my large Kolsch-Cola on the third try. And it wasn’t even very nice. German beer seems to be very malty and sweet and I hate malty beer. Luckily, drinks were free since DAAD was paying.
The city center in Bonn. Everywhere in Bonn, there are street names and shop signs with “Bonner” in it e.g. Bonner Street. I admit, I’m childishly amused by it.
Along the river Rhine to Linz, an old medieval town.
Scenes from Linz. I wish we could walk longer, but we were given only 1 hr 15 mins to walk. Again, pressed for time. That is why I hate tours.
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I’m extremely jealous of people who have went to Per Se or El Bulli. El Bulli is like my mecca. I will have to pay homage there one day. Per Se is more attainable though, but I’ll probably be broke when I’m done with it.
I’ve found a little cafe 20 mins away that has free wireless over at Manheim, so the cheapskate in me couldn’t resist taking advantage of the deal. The only downside? You’ll feel pressured to order a drink. So, if you get someone to come with you and you all share the drink (which is what I’m doing), it only works out to maybe 1 euro until your computer dies (which I hope it’s not too soon).
And scheiße means shit in German. I learnt that when my experiment went horribly wrong last Thursday and the lab tech in charge of me was going, “Scheiße, scheiße, scheiße.” The beta symbol is actually 2 s, so spelling it in English would probably get you scheisse (pronounced sh-ai-ze). And heilige Scheiße = holy shite
So my first weekend out is to Heidelberg! According to Zee and Ellen, it’s a must go. Maybe I’ve seen too many old neighbourhoods in Spain, so I was not wowed by it. It’s a nice city, pretty touristy, and I forsee myself spending my lazy weekends there, but like I said, not wow. Sorry Zee and Ellen =P.
The charming streets of Heidelberg. I think it’s a great place to just sit at one of the roadside cafes and watch the crowds go by.
The Heidelberg Schloss or “castle”. What’s left of it anyway. Pretty well maintained, but a huge bitch to climb up. It gives a great view of the city of Heidelberg. This castle has a long history and I guess any German history buff will love it, but since I know nothing about German history, I guess I can’t really relate to it.
Opposite the Neckar River
And by the way Ellen, I don’t blog on the job. Tsk. I go to a seedy little internet shop to blog and do all my online stuff. Ah, I hate having no internet..
